Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-VENT'ING-LY, adv.

In such a manner or way as to hinder. – Dr. Walker.

PRE-VEN'TION, n. [Fr.]

1. The act of going before. [Obs.] – Bacon.
2. Preoccupation; anticipation. [Little used.] – Hammond.
3. The act of hindering; hinderance; obstruction of access or approach. Prevention of sin is one of the greatest mercies God can vouchsafe. – South.
4. Prejudice; prepossession; a French sense, but not in use in English. – Dryden.

PRE-VEN'TION-AL, a.

Tending to prevent. – Dict.

PRE-VENT'IVE, a.

Tending to hinder; hindering the access of; as, a medicine preventive of disease. – Brown.

PRE-VENT'IVE, n.

1. That which prevents; that which intercepts the access or approach of. Temperance and exercise are excellent preventives of debility and languor.
2. An antidote previously taken. A medicine maybe taken as a preventive of disease.

PRE-VENT'IVE-LY, adv.

By way of prevention; in manner that tends to hinder.

PRE'VI-OUS, a. [L. prævisus; præ, before, and via, way, that is, a going, Sax. wæg.]

Going before in time; being or happening before something else; antecedent; prior; as, a previous intimation of a design; a previous notion; a previous event. Sound from the mountain, previous to the storm, / Rolls o'er the muttering earth. – Thomson.

PRE'VI-OUS-LY, adv.

In time preceding; beforehand; antecedently; as, a plan previously formed.

PRE'VI-OUS-NESS, n.

Antecedence; priority in time.

PRE-VI'SION, n. [s as z. L. prævisus, prævideo; præ, before, and video, to see.]

Foresight; foreknowledge; prescience. – Encyc.

PRE-WARN, v.t. [See Warn.]

To warn beforehand; to give previous notice of. – Beaum.

PRE-WARN'ED, pp.

Given previous notice of.

PRE-WARN'ING, ppr.

Warning beforehand.

PREY, n. [L. præda; It. preda; Fr. proie; Arm. preyz or preih; D. prooi. In Welsh, praiz, Ir. preit, signifies booty or spoil of cattle taken in war, also a flock or herd; preiziaw, to herd, to collect a herd, to drive off or make booty of cattle.]

1. Spoil; booty; plunder; goods taken by force from an enemy in war. And they brought the captives and the prey and the spoil to Moses and Eleazar the priest. – Num. xxxi. In this passage, the captives are distinguished from prey. But sometimes persons are included. They [Judah] shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies. – 2 Kings xxi.
2. That which is seized or may be seized by violence to be devoured; ravine. The eagle and the hawk dart upon their prey. She sees herself the monster's prey. – Dryden. The old lion perisheth for lack of prey. – Job iv.
3. Ravage; depredation. Hog in sloth, fox in stealth, lion in prey. – Shak. Animal or beast of prey, is a carnivorous animal; one that feeds on the flesh of other animals. The word is applied to the larger animals, as lions, tigers, hawks, vulturs, &c. rather than to insects; yet an insect feeding on other insects may be called an animal of prey.

PREY, v.i.

1. To prey on or upon, is to rob; to plunder; to pillage.
2. To feed by violence, or to seize and devour. The wolf preys on sheep; the hawk preys on chickens.
3. To corrode; to waste gradually; to cause to pine away. Grief preys on the body and spirits; envy and jealousy prey on the health. Language is too faint to show / His rage of love; It preys upon his life; / He pines, he sickens, he despairs, he dies. – Addison.

PREY-ER, n.

He or that which preys; a plunderer; a waster; a devourer.

PREY-ING, ppr.

Plundering; corroding; wasting gradually.

PRI'A-PISM, n. [from Priapus.]

More or less permanent erection and rigidity of the penis, without concupiscence.

PRICE, n. [Fr. prix; It. prezzo; Sp. precio; Arm. pris; D. prys; G. preis; Dan. priis; W. pris or prid; prisiaw, to value, to apprize; pridiaw, to give a price, value or equivalent, to pawn, to ransom; L. pretium. See Praise.]

1. The sum or amount of money at which a thing is valued, or the value which a seller sets on his goods in market. A man often sets a price on goods which he can not obtain, and often takes less than the price set.
2. The sum or equivalent given for an article sold; as, the price paid for a house, an ox or watch.
3. The current value or rate paid for any species of goods; as the market price of wheat.
4. Value; estimation; excellence; worth. Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. – Prov. xxxi.
5. Reward; recompense. That vice may merit; 'tis the price of toil; / The knave deserves it when he tills the soil. – Pope. The price of redemption, is the atonement of Jesus Christ. – 1 Cor. vi. A price in the hands of a fool, the valuable offers of salvation, which he neglects. – Prov. xvii.

PRICE, v.t.

1. To pay for. [Not in use.] – Spenser.
2. To set a price on. [See Prize.]

PRICE-CUR'RENT, n.

A paper or table of the current prices of merchandise, stocks, specie, bills of exchange, rate of exchange, &c.

PRI'CED, a.

Set at a value; used in composition; as, high-priced, low-priced.

PRICE-LESS, a.

1. Invaluable; too valuable to admit of a price. – Shak.
2. Without value; worthless or unsalable. – J. Barlow.

PRI'CING, ppr.

Setting a price on; valuing.

PRICK, n. [Sax. pricca; Sw. prick or preka; tand-preka, a tooth-pick; Ir. prioca.]

1. A slender pointed instrument or substance, which is hard enough to pierce the skin; a goad; a spur. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. – Acts ix.
2. Sharp stinging pain; remorse. – Shak.
3. A spot or mark at which archers aim. – Carew.
4. A point; a fixed place. – Spenser.
5. A puncture or place entered by a point. – Brown.
6. The print of a hare on the ground.
7. In seamen's language, a small roll; as, a prick of spun yarn; a prick of tobacco.